Progress is being made on the section of highway that slices through Fort Scott from north to south. Improvements are also on the horizon for several other Southeast Kansas highway projects.
In March 2022, U.S. Hwy. 69 in Bourbon County was approved a bid for improvement to the intersections of 3rd, 6th, 12th and 25th Streets in Fort Scott, including traffic signals.
The two miles of highway improvement inside the city limits of Fort Scott was awarded to LaForge & Budd Construction Company Inc., Parsons, Kansas, for a price tag of $2,645,573.03.
The improvement work began on Sept. 6, 2022.
“The project on US 69 is for intersection improvements for both pedestrians and vehicle traffic,” KDOT Iola Area Office Engineer Troy Howard, said. “Several intersections are getting signal updates. Both 6th St. and 12th St. are getting turning lanes added to improve traffic flows. At this point they are working on the turning lanes.”
“According to the contractors schedule they are supposed to be completed around the first of June,” Howard said.
Hwy. 69 Near Arma Is Nearing Completion
Travelers may have noticed that there is work on Hwy. 69, around Arma, as well.
“By late May, work should be completed on the U.S. 69 expansion project at Arma, weather permiting,” KDOT’s Priscilla Petersen, said. “The highway will be four lanes between Pittsburg and Kansas City.”
Four-Lane Corridor?
At one point there was work towards a four-lane highway corridor down U.S. 69 Highway from Kansas City to past Pittsburg.
“The goal for U.S. 69 is debatable, depending on who you ask,” Wayne Gudmonson, KDOT Dist. IV Engineer, Chanute, said. “There is a group and a large number of supporters that want to construct U.S. 69 four-lane (all the way) to I-44.There is another group who do not want this… so, at this time, U.S.69 will be four-lane from Kansas City to Pittsburg, once the work around Arma is completed.”
Baxter Springs
“We are also currently constructing a four- lane piece of U.S. 166 down around Baxter Springs (south of Pittsburg),” Gudmonson said. “This work begins on U.S. 400 just north east of Baxter Springs. It angles down and … reconstructs U.S. 166 to a four-lane with an interchange just east of Baxter and a second interchange at the junction of K 26 and U.S. 166. From this interchange we diagonal down to the south east with a two lane section that ties back into U.S. 166 just west of the Kansas-Missouri line.”